


Birdlime

by InfiniteRabbits



Series: Magpie Moon [6]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:15:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23937493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InfiniteRabbits/pseuds/InfiniteRabbits
Summary: (Incomplete, Sonic Fanfiction, OCxCanon implied, Rated Mature for specific adult themes)In an effort to get Shadow and Jet back from an unknown Zone, Clover willingly puts herself into the No-Zone's prison alongside Lightning Lynx. While he is looking to break Fiona free from her second imprisonment there, Clover is aiming to get a hold on her warp rings. Two unexpected allies show themselves from the darkness to aid her in her quest. However their help might be more than she bargained for.
Relationships: Fiona Fox/Lightning the Lynx, Jet the Hawk/Original Character(s), Original Character/Original Character, Shadow the Hedgehog/Original Character(s)
Series: Magpie Moon [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721782
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

“I read you loud and clear,” Zonic’s voice rang out over the interdimensional communicator. “What’s the nature of the emergency?”

Tails let out a sigh of relief. It had been quite some time since he’d touched this machine. Honestly he was afraid it might not have been able to reach quite as far as the no-zone. The only times he’d used it were specifically to contact Anti-Mobius, or rather Moebius. Finding the right frequency honestly felt as though it had taken hours when really it had only taken him minutes. 

“Good to hear your voice, Sonic. Er…  _ Zonic _ ,” the fox chuckled in a sheepish manor. “Sorry, still getting used to that.”

“Enough with the pleasantries,” Rouge sighed out, leaning over the other’s shoulder to speak into the large com. “Look honey, we’ve got a rogue  _ Super Scourge _ on our hands. I know Sonic mentioned he was in jail with you guys for a while there. Something tells me he didn’t get time off for good behavior.”

“ _ No _ , he most certainly did  _ not _ ,” came the hedgehog’s exasperated voice. “The Destructix showed up and despite my warning the Warden  _ not  _ to keep all of them together, they were kept in the same prison and broke loose.”

“And you didn’t come after them?” the bat asked in surprise. 

That didn’t sound like the Sonic she knew  _ at all. _ Then again, seeing how different Scourge was from Sonic was the prime example of how personalities didn’t always line up from dimension to dimension. 

“I was honestly hoping that he would go back to his own zone and stick to only causing trouble  _ there _ ,” Zonic admitted. “I suppose that was too much to hope for.”

It was Clover’s turn to lean over the fox’s shoulder, wanting to chime in as well. 

“So you think you can help us out by coming to pick him up?” she asked. 

“We’d  _ really  _ appreciate it,” Tails added. “Sonic and Shadow are doing their best to hold him back, but his Super form is admittedly too much for most of us to handle. I don’t even know how  _ long  _ it lasts.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve already got a team dispatched to your location. We’re on the way. Over and out.”

With that, the communication was severed. Rouge let out a sigh of relief. This whole thing would finally be over. Scourge was the  _ last  _ person she wanted in her life. 

“Should we go back at this point?” Clover found herself asking. “To help I mean?”

“It would probably be better if we stay with the communicator,” Tails pointed out as he motioned to the large machine. “It’s not exactly portable, and if they get here and need to call us for any reason they won't be able to.”

“It would be nice if we at least knew what was going on,” Rouge replied. “I’d call, but if they’re in the middle of a fight they probably don’t have the ability to answer right now.”

“We can’t call… but I think I’ve got an idea!” 

With a happy snap, Tails slid his chair from the communicator over to a computer beside it. His fingers flew over the keys and more windows than either girl could keep up with flashed before their eyes on the screen. In a matter of mere minutes, he managed to hack right into the street-signal cameras. Honestly, he was just thankful that this particular city was high-tech enough to even have them. Some of the older towns didn’t have anything like these. 

Some of the cameras were out from the destruction, however there were a few that still worked enough to at the very least show them the situation at hand. They were just in time to see Jet being knocked off of his board, which was mercilessly broken in half. 

“Ooooh,  _ ouch _ ,” Rouge flinched away from the screen. “They’re getting their butts handed to them.”

“But they have the Chaos Emeralds!” Tails pointed out, giving a happy grin. “That means they should be able to hold him off  _ just  _ long enough for the Zone Police to show up. I don’t think Zone-travel  _ takes  _ that long for them. It’s what they  _ do _ , after all.”

Clover was thankful to see that their younger friend was correct. A portal appeared behind the terror that was Scourge, and before he seemed to notice it was even there, an inhibitor collar was shot right onto his neck. 

“ _ Nice aim _ ,” Rouge chuckled out. 

“I’d hope so,” Tails agreed. “Wait… is that  _ Fiona _ ?”

Discomfort gripped at his stomach as he turned away from the screen. He really should have been over her at this point. The pain from everything that had happened with the other fox still plagued him much more than he liked to admit. She’d almost torn apart his relationship with Sonic. That was something he would never fully forgive himself for. 

“Looks like she’s getting arrested too,” Clover noted. “Wait… what’s--?”

Everything happened  _ so fast _ ! Tails was able to turn just in time to see Fiona struggling, the ring flinging from her hand, and _ Shadow and Jet disappearing into the portal _ . All three leaned in so quickly to view the screen that they nearly bashed their heads together in the process.

“Wh-where did they go?” Clover asked, panic evident in her voice.

“That slimy little--”

“They were sent to another zone!” Tails exclaimed, interrupting Rouge. 

“The Zone cops didn’t even  _ see  _ it,” the bat breathed out. Her eyes widened in concern as she stared at the spot where her friend and the hawk had just been standing. “The question is  _ which  _ zone.”

The sound of the door being flung open pulled both of their attention away from the monitor and to the entrance of the workshop. 

_ “Clover, wait!” _

It was far too late. The rabbit was already running down the street as fast as she possibly could to try and get to the scene of the disappearance. 


	2. Considering Con College

No matter how much Clover tried to breathe, she just couldn’t seem to catch her breath. It felt much like her throat had closed so tightly that there was only a straw’s worth of space. The air she was gulping down just wasn’t enough. 

No one remained at the sight of the battle. 

Sonic had long-since headed back to his friend’s workshop, and despite Rouge calling her over her communicator to come back so they could all figure things out together, Clover simply couldn’t bring herself to turn back. There was still so much damage all around her from everything that had happened. Cars were absolutely totaled, buildings were wrecked, and there was broken glass covering  _ everything _ . 

She didn’t realize just how badly her hands were shaking until she pulled her wrist up to try and use her com. 

“Shadow?” she called out, hoping that somehow her voice would reach him. “Shadow, are you there?”

There was a long moment of silence before she switched over to Jet’s hail signal. 

“Jet? Oh,  _ please  _ say you can hear me...  _ Jet _ !”

_ Nothing _ .

The nervous rabbit’s leg began to jitter in place as she tried her best to think of what to do. Even if they could travel from one dimension to another, how would they even know  _ which one _ to go to. Were Jet and Shadow lost  _ forever _ ?

A soft groan from the building beside her was enough to pull Clover from her mind as her ears swiveled in that direction to listen. It wasn’t a voice she recognized, but there was still the possibility that someone was hurt. If anything, she was thankful for the interruption. It meant the rabbit wasn’t going to be stewing in her own negative thoughts. 

Clover made her way over to the building and jumped in through the broken window. The last person she was expecting to see was the lynx laying on the ground before her. Lightning groaned once more as he reached to rub his head. He’d been thrown harder than he’d realized at the time. The silence around him only added to his daze. Where were the sounds of battle?

“Hey there,” Clover half-whispered as she offered him a hand. “You alright?”

Maybe he wouldn’t be as bad so long as the rest of his group wasn’t around. No matter what, he still looked like he needed help.

“Wh--Where’s Scourge?!” he shouted, trying to stand. 

The lynx was wobbly on his feet and nearly toppled right back over if Clover hadn’t grabbed his arm to steady him. 

“Calm down, bud. He’s gone,” she replied with a nervous smile. “Zone cops got him. Looks like you got off scott-free though.”

The rabbit expected the short feline to be jumping for joy at that information. Or at the very least, showing joy in whatever way he tended to. He came across as much more reserved than most of her friends. However what she got instead was a wide-eyed expression that she couldn’t quite read.

“ _ What about Fiona _ ?” he asked. 

Despite his reserved nature, she could still feel the worry in his words. 

“ _ Yeah _ . Yeah they got her too. She tried to get away with a warp-ring and kinda… sorta… sent my friends away instead while she got dragged off.”

The poor Lynx looking at her as though she’d just torn his entire world apart. They had only just gotten out of Zone-Jail. There was  _ no way  _ he’d be able to get her back out all on his own. With a shaky breath, he reached into his glove to pull out a single warp-ring.

“We were supposed to meet up in a different Zone if things got too crazy,” Lightning sighed out as he rolled the ring between his fingers.

An idea struck Clover so suddenly that she actually gave a little hop-step. If Lightning had a ring, then that implied that they either had  _ more  _ or had  _ access  _ to more. If Fiona knew  _ exactly  _ where she’d sent them, then there was a possibility the rabbit could get her boys back. The lynx rose a brow in confusion as he watched the girl beside him jogging in place.

“Okay, question,” she started. “ _ How many more rings do you guys have _ ?”

“Counting this one? Four.”

“So… Okay crazy idea, hear me out,” Clover said, holding her hands up. “We go wherever they took her and get your lady, and I help you out. You guys share your rings with me, and we’re all out! I get two, you guys get two. That’s all I need. Well… that and Fiona tells me where she sent them!”

“ _ Sh-she’s not my lady! _ ” Lightning protested, though the fierce blush under his fur suggested otherwise. “We’ve already broken out once. You’re  _ crazy  _ if you think we can do it again.”

“Dude, _ look at me! _ ” Clover motioned to herself. “I don’t look like the kind of person that belongs in jail. I’m the  _ last  _ person they’d suspect of a jailbreak.”

The lynx rolled his eyes. 

“Yes, and you’ll be the first one to  _ break  _ under the pressure. You’ve obviously never done time. How much experience do you even  _ have  _ out in the field?”

Clover felt that sheepish smile taking over her features once more. She felt like she was being interviewed for a job. Really that was more accurate than she realized. 

“W-well, uh,” she said with a nervous laugh. “I’ve helped take down my vampire ex-boyfriend and seal him away. Uhm… I’ve had two treasure hunts in caves with monsters in them. One had boobytraps that I sniffed out. And uh… yeah that’s pretty much it for now. But I’m sure I can still be useful!”

“ _ Forget it _ ,” Lightning snapped. “You’re just going to get yourself  _ killed _ .”

“Sooooo, what? You’re just gonna leave her in there?” she queried, raising a brow in disbelief. “You’ve got your one ring and you’re gonna run off somewhere safe with it?”

“Wh-- _ No _ ! I…”

Okay, admittedly she had him there. No matter how hard Lightning thought about it, he couldn’t seem to see any other way around it. It was  _ prison or bust _ . He let out a growl of frustration and in that moment Clover knew she had him. 

“ _ It won't be easy _ ,” the lynx huffed. “We won't be able to just jump in, get her and jump out. We will legitimately have to get arrested and spend at least a few days there to plan out how to break free. It has to be a quiet jailbreak. Our last one caused _ so much chaos _ that they’ll be watching us  _ heavily _ .”

“If it gets my boys back, _ I’ll do it _ ,” the rabbit agreed with a fiery determination in her eyes. “The question is, how do we get  _ in _ ?”

“Oh, I’ve got  _ that  _ covered,” Lightning hummed as he held up the warp ring. “The Zone Cops have a ban on Zone travel. All we have to do is warp over to the Cosmic Highway, and they’ll drop on us pretty much immediately.”

“Great! Let's do this,” Clover said with a nod. “Let me just call Rouge and let her know I’ll be gone.”

Before Clover could make the call, Lightning grasped her wrist and pushed it back down. He shook his head and gave a sigh of annoyance.

“No communications with the others,” the lynx scolded. “Any information might get leaked to the Zone Cops and then you’ll be stuck there forever. If we do this, we do it now and we do it with  _ no warning _ .”

Clover couldn’t help but hesitate as she looked down at her communicator. After the whole ordeal with the Babylon Archives, she’d promised her friend that she would keep completely open communication with her about her adventures. Rouge would surely understand, wouldn’t she? It was either having a phone call,  _ or getting her other friends back _ . Their  _ friends  _ were more important. 

“Aright,” the rabbit sighed out. “No communication. _ I’m ready when you are _ .”

Was she ready? No, not really... But would that stop her?  _ Absolutely not _ .

“You sure?” Lightning asked. “This is your only chance to back one. Once we step through this ring, you’re in this till the end.”

“ _ I’m in it to win it, _ ” Clover said, holding out her hand for Lightning to shake. “Two rings for me, and the last ring for you two. You guys escape wherever you want, and you tell me where Fiona opened her last portal to so I can jump in, get my boys, and use the last ring to get back home.  _ Deal _ ?”

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Lightning was impressed by the other Mobian’s determination. Clover knew what she wanted, and damnit she was going to get it. If she kept up this much gusto, then maybe she really would make it out of Zone-Jail alive. 

“Deal,” the lynx agreed as he reached to shake her hand. “Though I’d like to know exactly who I’m doing business with.”

“The name’s Clover.”

“Lightning. Nice to meet you. Now then…”

Without a second thought on the matter, Lightning tossed the warp ring in front of them to open up their much-needed portal. 

“ _ Ladies first _ .”


	3. Tossed in the Clink

Funny, when Clover heard the name “Cosmic Highway,” a  _ literal highway randomly floating in the middle of the sky _ wasn’t really what she’d had in mind. Maybe some sort of translucent path through the stars and galaxies of the universe, or something pretty like that would be more fitting of the name. 

_ No _ . 

This was just a random street just floating in nothingness. Well, there were actually a  _ lot  _ of these random streets, heaps of winding roads all woven together like a mass of parkway pasta. Staring at it too long almost made her dizzy.

“So this… sure is a thing, huh?” she asked with a soft laugh. 

Lightning rolled his eyes. It didn’t surprise him that she had never seen another Zone before--most Mobians hadn’t. The lynx himself had been in a minimum of… four? At this point he’d lost count. It was strange working with someone so innocent and fresh to the game considering all of his past experiences. He’d stolen the Sword of Acorns in the Acorn kingdom and nearly started a war, been locked away in the Devil’s Gulag  _ three times _ on Mobius, been trapped in Eggman’s Egg-Grape Chamber where his energy had been drained, worked as a mercenary, worked for the Dark Legion, been in Zone-Jail, and so many other things. 

Yet here he was with this rabbit who looked like she’d be broken in prison in a millisecond. Why had he agreed to this again?

Oh yeah,  _ Fiona _ .

His thoughts of getting the fox back by his side were the only things spurring him on to complete this suicide mission. Heck, if he simply got to be beside her in Zone-Jail again, it would be an improvement. They’d get out sooner or later, with or without the rabbit.

To be fully honest, Lightning was sure Clover would be eaten alive before she even got the chance to complete their deal. Sure she’d shown some strength while battling the Destructix back in the city, but that was with the help of Sonic and all of his friends. There was no doubt in his mind that without any of them, she never would have made it that far. 

“Attention!” ordered an intercom. “You are in direct violation of the Zone Lockdown. If you are in league with Dr. Nega, please surrender quietly. If not, you will still be taken in for questioning.”

Clover’s head whipped side to side as she tried to see just where the voice was coming from. Her confusion was answered by a set of floating hover-cars that rose up between the highway streets to surround them. 

“Is this normal?” the rabbit asked, pointing to one of the cars. 

“Pretty much,” Lightning huffed out. “When they get out of the cars, _ get violent with them _ . That’ll get us arrested for sure.”

He would have liked to have attacked one of the cars themselves, as he’d done with the Destructix last time, but Clover didn’t seem like she had the strength and he was out of his ninja-stars. Little did he know, she would take his advice to heart. 

As the Zone Cops parked and pulled themselves out of their vehicles, Clover jumped on one faster than Lightning could think to react. He couldn’t help but give a chuckle as she kicked him as hard as she could in the gut and the poor guy nearly looked like he was about to lose his lunch. 

He had to admit, the lynx admired her spunk.

Lightning was quick to jump into the fray, lashing out with his fists at any cop who came anywhere near him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could already see them getting the inhibitor collars ready. That was  _ exactly  _ what he wanted. The lynx braced his body as it was shot in his direction, and the familiar feeling of having all of his strength zapped out of him took over his senses. Lightning dropped to his knees with a grin on his lips. 

_ Mission accomplished.  _

However it was then he came to a sudden realization.  _ Lightning hadn’t told the rabbit what to expect _ . He watched in amusement as she managed to squirm away from a couple of the cops trying to hold her down. It was the chameleon that managed to snap the collar on her. Her eyes went wide, and Clover let out a strained noise as her body fell onto the floor and even convulsed a little. She’d never felt anything like  _ that  _ in her life!

It took a long moment for the rabbit to realize that  _ she’d stopped breathing _ , and with a  _ loud  _ gasp she rolled onto her back. Her eyes met Lightning’s, to which the Lynx gave her a nod of approval. Step one was complete. Now she just had to make it through however long it took them to get out of jail. 

Another hover car landed beside them, and out stepped Zonic the Zone Cop. He looked over the two, and as his eyes fell upon Lightning there was evident disdain in his scowl. Or at least, Clover  _ thought  _ there was. The only part of his face she could see was his  _ mouth _ . 

“Back again?” Zonic asked as he crouched in front of the lynx. “Where are your friends?”

“Don’t have any of  _ those _ ,” Lightning laughed out. “Just wanted to get the heck out of dodge. You’re the one being a jerk about Zone-travel.”

“Likely story,” the cop droned out. “It’s rather suspicious that we just took Scourge and Fiona back a couple of hours ago, and suddenly  _ you’re  _ here? Where are the rest of the Destructix?”

“They ran away with their tails between their legs,” the lynx replied defiantly. “I’m the only one left. I was just trying to get back to my own Zone. But you know I can’t resist a fight!”

“Take him,” Zonic sighed. 

Fiona and Lightning weren’t a worry on their own. Not without the rest of the Destructix. With Scourge locked away in solitary confinement, Zonic was sure that this time everything would be fine. If the other members started showing up,  _ then  _ he would worry.

The rabbit on the other hand was somewhat of a surprise. The other cops pulled her up to stand as Zonic approached her, looking over her with intrigue. 

“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen your face before,” he admitted. “I think your Zone-Alternate works in our office, actually. If I recall correctly, you’re one of Sonic’s friends.”

Clover’s lips pursed. How was she even supposed to answer that? Somehow admitting that she was just trying to get someone back from another zone didn’t seem like it would work out in her favor. However as she shared a panicked look with Lightning while the other cops attempted to shove him into a vehicle, Zonic let out a noise of annoyance. 

“I’ll call their Zone again and see if I can clear up the confusion. You  _ obviously  _ don’t belong here, and you  _ certainly don’t  _ belong in prison.”

Somehow her eyes grew even wider at that. It felt like a teacher was calling her parents and sending her home for the day with a slap on the wrist. If she got sent back, there was no way she could complete her deal with Lightning and therefore there was no way she could rescue Shadow and Jet. The rabbit had to prove that she belonged in prison. So Clover did the only thing she could think of…

_ She headbutted Zonic. _

The impact was enough to completely throw him off of his guard and stop the hedgehog from making his call.

_ It was also enough to knock Clover out cold _ .


	4. Doin' Bird

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: Slight Trigger warnings for: light blood, mentions of prison violence, harassment, and cursing.

The next thing Clover became aware of was something cold and wet over her aching forehead. Apparently someone was nice enough to have placed a cold compress against her head after she’d--

_ Oh. _

Oh that’s right.

_ She’d totally headbutted a cop _ !

A combination of terror and exhilaration rushed through her veins. The rabbit couldn’t remember a time when she’d acted up against authority like that. Did this mean that once she escaped she’d be “wanted?” Oh boy, Clover hadn’t thought of that before this. Life on the run sounded scary as heck. 

But if it meant she would be able to pull Jet and Shadow back into their proper dimension, then being a criminal was totally worth it. Right? 

Sadly the cold compress was the only thing she got that was “nice.” The instant she showed signs of being awake, the bewildered rabbit was pulled up and shoved through the process of being processed. Her paw pad prints were forcibly taken, she was changed into an ugly orange jumpsuit, and she was shoved against a wall to hold a sign and take a photo. Damn, was that flash ever bright! It left her seeing spots as she was once more pushed along down a hallway. 

There was so much paperwork being done that it made her head spin. Or was it the concussion she probably had from headbutting Zonic’s stupid helmet? Yeah. Yeah it was probably the concussion. It took the rabbit a moment to realize that the room wasn’t actually spinning.  _ She was literally sitting on the wall perpendicular to the workers around her _ . 

None of the other prisoners on the other side of the glass seemed shocked by this matter. In fact, now that she was looking into the prison itself, the rabbit found that everything looked topsy-turvy. That was another detail Lightning forgot to mention, it seemed. 

The prisoner was forced to stand and a heavy blanket and pillow were placed in her arms, almost throwing Clover completely off balance. Once more she found herself being shoved along, almost feeling herself being dragged at certain points. The doors finally opened and there it was! The crazy prison that made her stomach do an uncomfortable flip felt all too real now. 

As determined as Clover was to get her boys back, there was a small part of her that secretly wished she had let Zonic call her friends. The way all of the inmates eyed her like the fresh meat she was made her feel far more nervous than the rabbit wanted to admit. Unfortunately, she wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding her anxiety. The way she walked alongside the prison guard, hunched over and half-hiding in her pillow showed all too well that she didn’t want to be there. 

That only urged the other prisoners on.

Cat-calls reached her ears through the men’s ward and all the way into the women’s ward where she was finally shown into a room. Up on the top bunk lay a disinterested looking badger woman, whose arms looked so buff that she could crush Clover without a second thought. Had the rabbit not been so afraid in that moment, she would have been impressed. 

Just like that, she was left alone with the woman who seemed to be her new roommate for the time being. The badger jumped down from her bunk and reached out to rip the bedding from Clover’s hands. It was tossed unceremoniously onto the floor before she grasped the rabbit but the collar of her shirt to shove her up against the nearest wall.

“Let’s get one thing straight,  _ Pussywillow _ ,” the badger growled out. “ _ I’m _ the one in charge, here. Got that? We ain’t friends, and you ain’t got no say here. You do  _ exactly  _ what I tell you and  _ we’ll get along just fine _ .”

“Y-Yes, Ma’am,” Clover squeaked out, reaching her feet downward. The more she tried to feel around with her toes, the more she realized she’d been lifted  _ completely off the ground _ . 

The other woman’s glare softened ever so slightly as she looked over Clover’s features. Something seemed  _ wrong  _ here. Her other roommates usually made some sort of smack-talk back or fought for dominance. This little cotton-tail  _ wasn’t _ . 

“S’the matter with you, girlie?” she asked, dropping Clover down onto her feet. “You one of those play-shy-murderer types, or what? Whatcha in here for?”

The rabbit reached to rub her neck nervously, hating the feeling of the inhibitor collar there. It made her neck feel tingly and almost itchy. If she could, she would have scratched the damn thing off already.

“Broke the Zone Lockdown. And I uh…  _ headbutted a cop _ ,” she admitted. 

The badger let out a loud, hearty laugh as she reached to slap Clover hard on the back. The rabbit was sent tumbling down onto the ground from the other’s sheer strength. To think, this was what she was like  _ with her powers being limited. _ It frightened her to think of how strong the badger was  _ without  _ the collar on.

“ _ Is that all? _ ” the larger woman asked. “Oh man, Pussywillow you’re gonna get eaten alive in here! This place houses the worst of the worst. Even the weakest worms here were  _ Demi-Gods _ in their Zone.”

While Horizont-Al and Verti-Cal were the lowest on the totem pole in the prison, they were nothing to sneeze at in their normal forms. Everyone backed off of them ever since the last prison break when the two broke loose from their collars, but they still were regarded as absolute garbage. 

The severity of the situation really hit Clover now. Somehow she’d found herself in the most dangerous situation yet, all because she’d jumped into something without thinking. Try as she might to look on the brighter side of things, the rabbit had messed up big time. Nevertheless, she was past the point of no return. There was no looking back now.

“W-well uh… guess I’ll have to grow a thicker skin then, won’t I?” Clover asked as she picked herself up from the ground. 

Again the badger laughed and gave her back a slap, and again she fell onto the ground.

“That’s putting it mildly,” the badger chuckled out. “You won’t last three days here. It’s a good thing I’ve already nicknamed you. Otherwise you would have wound up with something worse.”

So that was going to be her “prison nickname?”  _ Really _ ? Clover let out a groan as the badger climbed up onto her bunk once more. 

“Why  _ that _ ?”

“Your tail,” the larger woman said, pointing to Clover’s little fluffy appendage. “Looks like a pussywillow. Fluffy fuckin’ cotton tail.”

_ Among other reasons _ , which made the woman smirk down at the rabbit. That look made Clover shiver. The rabbit sighed as she picked up her pillow to toss it onto her bed. Giving the badger her  _ actual  _ name didn’t seem like it was going to do any good.

“And what do I call you?”

“You are gonna keep callin’ me  _ Ma’am _ ,” the woman sneered. “But everyone else around here calls me  _ Boulder _ .”

\---

By the time dinner rolled around, Clover was already exhausted from being on guard all day. While Boulder didn’t seem like she was going to cause any issues with her for the moment, shower time proved to be quite horrifying. 

_ There were no private showers _ . 

Apparently the Warden was afraid that private showers meant inmates could be hiding things from the guards. So instead, giant groups of women were made to shower all at once in a huge room filled with showers. They sprouted from the floor and had multiple heads like metal trees, and boy were they all packed in close together!

Boulder kept the other girls off of her for the most part, but that didn’t stop Clover’s sensitive ears from picking up the things being said about her. It put her so on edge that it was hard to focus on stepping properly on the floor, which held all kinds of questionable substances that weren’t just dirt and soap mixed into the water. 

There was way too much white-stuff that hadn’t been washed away that the rabbit was afraid to step-in. It didn’t take her long to realize this was probably the same room the  _ men  _ were made to shower in as well. Even after her shower, she wasn’t sure she felt clean. 

As they were all escorted back to their cells, Clover could swear she felt someone brushing their hand against the back of her thigh. Each time she felt it, she tried to hop-step a little faster to catch up with those in front of her. After the third touch, she jumped so far forward that she ran face-first into Boulder. 

After a scolding, the two were put back into their cell and the others were pushed further down the hall until every inmate was back in their rooms. The next few hours had been spent in complete and utter silence. Clover’s leg jittered as she laid in her bed, trying her best to sleep. 

_ Just make it to dinner. Just make it till then. When you get there, you can talk to Lightning and Fiona, and there will be a silver lining to all of this _ .

The rabbit tried her best to talk herself up. At the very least, while she was in her room she felt safer than when she was outside. 

Finally dinner came, and she continued to jitter her leg all along the line to pick up her food, all the way up until her sights finally fell upon the Lynx. Lightning had just gotten his own food, and the rabbit saw him searching the room until his eyes lit up. There was Fiona!

The feline rushed to the fox’s side, only to be met with a bewildered stare and a surprisingly harsh slap to his cheek. 

“Are you crazy?!” Fiona hissed. “What are you doing here? Now they’re gonna be watching us like hawks.”

The lynx barely managed to save his food and set it down before he reached to rub his sore cheek. Man, this woman packed a punch!

“I wasn’t going to leave you in here alone,” Lightning insisted. “ _ I came back for you _ .”

His words made Fiona hesitate.  _ No one _ had ever come back for  _ her  _ before. She was always left alone, tossed aside, or just plain uncared for. Lightning didn’t  _ have  _ to come back to the most  _ high-security prison in any dimension _ just to be beside her,  _ but he did _ . The fox chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, contemplating everything before she motioned for him to sit beside her. He unhesitatingly obliged.

“You came back all on your own?” Fiona asked, for the moment impressed.

“Well uh… about that--”

“Hey guys,” Clover said meekly. “Am I interrupting anything?”

Oh man, she hoped they’d let her sit with them. She could already feel some of the other inmates eyeing her up and down and that made her feel far more uncomfortable than she was willing to admit. Even though she could see other rabbits in the mess hall, they more or less looked like they belonged there somehow. Their body language just  _ oozed  _ confidence and bad-assery. 

Fiona gave Lightning a look of disbelief as she motioned to the rabbit.  _ This  _ was the person he’d picked to help him break her out?

“I didn’t have a  _ choice _ ,” he sighed, patting the place beside him for Clover to sit. “She was the only one around when I woke up and she was game to come along for the ride.”

“For what?” the fox groaned. “There’s always a price.”

“Two of our warp rings,” Lightning answered hesitantly.

“ _ What?! _ ”

A few of the other inmates looked up at Fiona’s outburst, and the fox took that as her signal to quiet down.

“ _ Look _ ,” Clover huffed out. “When you were trying to get away from the Zone Cops, you sent two of the Mobians I care about most to some unknown Zone with no way to get back. I need two warp rings: One to get to them, and one to get them home. You guys only  _ need  _ one to get out of here. You’re leaving  _ together _ , aren’t you?”

“ _ Wherever you go, I’ll follow _ ,” Lightning agreed as he turned his eyes to the fox beside him. “I don’t need to be anywhere else.”

Again he caught Fiona off guard. How dare he be so damn  _ suave  _ about it! It wasn’t fair! 

The blushing fox cleared her throat as she averted her gaze down to her food.

“Yeah, fine. Sure. So what’s the plan?”

“We uh… don’t have one yet,” Lightning admitted.

Fiona let out a loud groan and slapped her hand against her forehead. Really, she shouldn’t have been surprised. Perhaps in a weird sort of way, this would work to their advantage.

“We can’t go right away anyway,” she admitted. “We broke out so quickly last time that they’ll be watching us. And they’ll be watching  _ you  _ now that you’ve talked to us, bunny.”

Clover sighed sadly as she pushed her food around on her plate.

“Apparently my nickname here is  _ Pussywillow _ ,” she bemoaned. 

That was enough to make Lightning choke on his food from pure laughter. 

“ _ It’s not funny! _ ”

“Y-yeah!  _ Yeah it is _ ,” he replied between chortles.

Clover let out an unhappy little growl as she stabbed her meat with her fork. Fiona caught sight of her little fangs as she bit into it, and suddenly a thought occurred to the fox.  _ Did rabbits eat meat _ ?

Unfortunately for Clover, Fiona wasn’t the  _ only  _ one who noticed. Far off at another table, a certain rodent found himself looking over the girl with interest. Strange and unusual inmates  _ always  _ caught his interest. Already the wheels were turning in his head as he thought of all of the ways those fangs could be displayed. 

Dinner didn’t taste the best, but Clover was thankful for something to fill her belly. Fiona and Lightning weren’t the best of company, but at this point they were familiar and she was grateful to have them near. The problem came when it was time to head back to their cells for the night. The three agreed to meet up in the yard the next day to try and discuss a better plan of escape before they all began to head down the hall that led to the men and women’s wards. 

Clover’s anxiety returned as soon as she lost sight of the two of them in the fray. So many inmates swirled around her to the point of making her feel overwhelmed. A headache was starting in front of her head where she’d hurt herself, and that absolutely made things worse. 

A hand pressed against her chest without warning, and suddenly Clover found herself pinned against the nearest wall by a white mouse that was about half a head shorter than she was. Despite his size, the mouse was much stronger than he looked. 

“Well well well~” he sang out in a voice that shocked the rabbit. “What do we have here?”

His tone had a strange lilt to it, and he sounded far more high-pitched than she would have figured. His voice sounded almost female, but not quite. It was a mixture of that and never having grown out of his childhood voice. It was hard to describe, but surprisingly pretty to listen to. Or rather, it would have been had he not been looking at her as though she was some sort of meat-trophy. 

“Lemme see those fangs, doll,” he commanded, reaching over to shove her lip up enough to look. “Ooh~ Lookit these! They’re  _ duller  _ than I thought they were, but still quite...  _ unusual _ ~”

Was this little asshole speaking in dramatic timing on purpose? It actually  _ bothered  _ Clover how smooth he was. The mouse was like a villain out of a play. 

“I just wanna go to  _ bed _ ,” the rabbit droned as she pulled her head away from his grasp. “Come on, lemme go!”

As Clover tried to pull away from the mouse, he growled and shoved her back into the wall at full-force. A flash of silver caught her attention and before she knew it, there was a switchblade directly in front of her face. 

“Listen here,  _ bunny-bitch _ ,” he hissed out. “ _ You _ don’t call the shots here. If I wanna see your teeth, _ you show me your fuckin’ teeth _ .”

Black ears appeared behind the mouse, and before he could react Lightning had grabbed the back of his shirt and flung him away from Clover. 

“Back off!” the lynx commanded. “She’s  _ ours _ .”

The mouse laughed from his place on the ground, watching as Lightning and Fiona put themselves between the rabbit and himself. However they weren’t the only ones. Boulder made her appearance at that very moment, reaching to grasp Clover’s sleeve and pull her away.

“You really do get into trouble fast, don’tcha  _ Pussywillow _ ?” she mused. 

As the two left, the lynx and fox followed, though Lightning didn’t dare take his eyes off of the mouse until they were quite far away from him. 

“Who  _ was  _ that?” Clover asked with an unhappy shiver.

“ _ That _ was  _ Lab-Rat _ ,” Boulder answered in a groan. “You’ll stay away from him if you know what’s good for ya. He’s this prison’s  _ head bottom-bitch _ and he’s the _ craziest motherfucker _ in here.”

Little did they know that tiny mouse would be making his ways down to a predator far more deadly down below. Percival was allowed through many a door that normally only the Zone Cops would be allowed through, even making his way past the inmate processing office into the deepest chambers of the large prison. He could still remember the first time he was allowed to wander through those halls all on his own. So many of the staff members feared for their safety, and oh how their looks of terror made him feel  _ so alive _ ! If it wasn’t for his obsession with  _ one particular staff member _ , he would have loved to  _ go wild _ in that office and show them what true fear meant. 

The further he went the darker and dingier it got, and the more there were _ questionable stains  _ appearing on the floor. 

The dim-looking light through the Medical Examiner’s was enough to make Percy give a hop-step of excitement. That meant that his beloved Mortician would be hard at work, as per usual. The mouse gave the door a quick two knocks as he always did before he slipped right inside. 

“You’ll  _ never _ guess what I saw in the mess hall today,” he hummed, all too happy to watch the other work. 

There was so much blood everywhere. While the other could be quite clean with his work, he seemed to enjoy getting things a little on the messier side at times. Just the sight of the knife in the other’s gloved hands had the mouse shivering with anticipation. 

“In a moment, my love,” came the soft hissing from the mortician. “I need to focus.”

“Oh, but you’ll want to hear about this,” Percy insisted with a pout. “I saw a rabbit today. A rabbit  _ with fangs _ .”

As he mentioned “fangs,” the mouse made a dramatic motion with his hands to have two of his fingers represent long teeth. That alone was enough to get the Medical Examiner’s attention. 

“I  _ see _ ~” He hummed out sweetly. “Well then, we’ll just have to invite her down for a spell, won't we?”

A menacing grin of absolute glee tugged at Percival’s lips. Oh, they were surely going to have some  _ fun _ !


	5. Detained from Duty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ship was actually requested from one of my main readers on another website, so I added in this silly extra chapter even though it wasn't planned. It helps break the tension of the rest of the fanfic's darker themes.

The Zone Cop reached to rub the back of his neck as best as he could in his work outfit. Zonic wasn’t exactly in the habit of taking off his helmet at work and he wasn’t about to start now. Then again, he felt like he never really  _ left  _ work.

The sounds of the phones ringing as he entered the office met his ears, though thankfully they were all at relatively low volume levels. He wasn’t sure how anyone could take having their phones blaring at full volume. There was chatter here and there, but most of the office workers seemed to be busy completing large stacks of paperwork. 

Due to one of Nega’s latest attacks, the section of the No Zone that housed their particular internet connection went down the week before. While techs were still working on it, the entire operation had to be switched over to actual, physical paper. Most of them felt like they were drowning in work, especially when one of the office employees wrote something wrong and had to start  _ completely over _ on a fresh page. If they survived this, they’d never take technology--or more importantly  _ the Undo button _ \--for granted again.

One particular worker stood out from across the room despite the fact that all Zonic could see over her cubicle were the brown tips of her ears. The hedgehog adjusted the files on his hand before he made his way over to her. There sat the rabbit, taking a moment to drink coffee from a comically large mug. 

When work was easy, she usually had some form of cream and sugar in her mug. When times were tough, she drank it straight black. It looked like today was a  _ tough  _ day. One of her ears tilted in his direction as he leaned against the edge of her desk, though she didn’t open her eyes. She was too busy gulping away.

“So… I met your zone alternate today,” Zonic spoke up, opening the file and tossing it onto the desk in front of her. “ _ She headbutted me _ .”

The office worker nearly choked on her coffee and had to set the mug down quickly, slapping her hand over her mouth to keep from performing an epic spit take. The rabbit doubled over, and for a moment Zonic was concerned as she looked as though she was gagging. The hedgehog reached for her in concern, only to have her swat his hands away. 

As she managed to finally swallow down her drink, a burst of combined choking and laughter escaped from her throat. Keeping her eruption quiet enough so as to not disturb everyone else around her was incredibly difficult, and the rabbit laid her forehead against the desk as she wheezed. 

“It’s not funny!” Zonic protested with a pout. 

“Y-yeah,” she finally gasped out. “ _ Yeah it is _ .”

“Be serious, Zlover,” the hedgehog scolded, rolling his eyes behind his visor. “I don't know what to do with this one. Something’s telling me she  _ really  _ doesn’t belong here.”

“Alright, alright. You’re so  _ serious  _ all the time,” the rabbit teased as she pulled the file closer. “Oh man, she looks pretty roughed up though. And no criminal record from her zone? What was she doing on the Cosmic Highway?”

“We don’t know,” he admitted, opening another file to set it in front of her. “She was there with  _ this guy _ .”

Lightning’s own record was quite the doozey. The lynx had been in far more trouble than he probably even remembered half the time. It almost looked like at least a quarter of his life had been spent in prison. The rabbit let out a soft whistle as she thumbed over each page of his file.

“This is a grade A  _ bad boy _ right here,” Zlover mused. “He’s not really my type, but if he was serious,  _ and I didn’t know about his record _ , I probably wouldn’t say no to a date. If she’s the same, she might have been running off with him or something.  _ Those eyebrows though _ !”

“ _ Zlover… _ ,” Zonic groaned, wishing he could rub his temples. 

“ _ What? _ ” she groused with a dramatic shrug. “For all you know, she took one look at this guy and decided:  _ Tonight is a wonderful night for eyebrows _ .”

Okay, now  _ that  _ earned a small snort of a laugh from the Zone Cop. The tiny noise delighted the rabbit and as she smirked, she leaned against her desk. 

“ _ There’s _ a smile. I swear, Zonic,  _ you work too hard _ . When it comes to the fate of all dimensions, that’s one thing. But when it comes down to worrying about a little rabbit who got herself in trouble, maybe give yourself a break.  _ Hm _ ?”

“I guess,” he sighed, once more reaching to rub his neck. “It just doesn’t sit right with me, is all.”

“Eh, call her family, a friend, or whoever she lives with,” Zlover suggested. “Usually we little office workers make the call if it needs to be made, but this way you can get the information you want. You know, if there even  _ is  _ any. Then leave it be.”

“Yeah…”

“ _ Zonic _ ,” Zlover scolded, imitating the hedgehog’s tone as she raised a brow. “You need to  _ relax _ . Seriously, it can’t  _ always  _ be about the end of the world. How about after work you and I go get a coffee?”

“I thought you made it a rule not to date coworkers?” Zonic teased.

“I did. And this isn’t a date,” the rabbit replied, motioning between the two of them. “This is two coworkers blowing off some steam after work.”

There was a long pause.

“ _ But if you stand me up like Zhadow did, you’re never gonna hear the end of it. _ ”

“I would never!” the hedgehog protested, looking offended by the very notion. 

His jest was quickly replaced with a smirk. 

“You get off at five?”

“ _ Eight _ ,” Zlover sighed, reaching for her cup. “Putting in overtime today, but you need a coffee, and I definitely need a coffee.”

“You don’t need any more coffee,” Zonic laughed out, reaching to take the cup from her hands.

“H- _ hey _ !”

Despite her protest, he brought the cup to his lips to chug down the rest of the warm liquid. The bitterness of it made him shiver and he made a dramatic noise of disdain as he set the cup back down. 

“How the  _ heck  _ do you drink it like that?” he wheezed out, shaking his head. 

“You get used to it,” Zlover replied, looking unhappily into her cup. “And  _ now  _ I have to go get more.”

As she stood, the rabbit reached to pat the other on the shoulder. 

“Go make your call and get back to work,  _ you slacker _ ,” she teased. “And don’t forget, eight o’clock.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” the hedgehog called. 

He watched her leave with a grin, though that smile was quick to leave his face as his gaze fell back down to the files. With a huff, he flopped down into the office worker’s chair and reached reluctantly for the phone. 

  
_ Something told him he wasn’t going to like this _ .


End file.
